Tuesday, December 13, 2005

Critically acclaimed children’s book author, anti-gang activist, and 2 time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, Stanley “Tookie” Williams, 51, died at 12:35 a.m. after receiving a lethal injection at San Quentin State Prison. (link)

Williams was co-founder of an inner-city youth organization dedicated to the credo for which it was named: Community, Respect, Integrity, Patriotism, and Service. The group is most commonly known by its acronym, the CRIPS.

With all the controversy surrounding the execution of Stanley “Tookie” Williams, I had hoped to provide an exclusive interview with Albert Owens, Yen-I Yang, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, and the couple's daughter Yu-Chin Yang Lin, to see how they weighed in on whether “Tookie” should be granted clemency for his crimes. It is now too late for that debate.

Investigators working on behalf of Radioactive Liberty worked tirelessly to track down Albert Owens, Yen-I Yang, Tsai-Shai Chen Yang, and Yu-Chin Yang Lin. We found 4 graves embossed with identical names, but found no actual living persons by those names that made credible claims that they were in fact the victims of Mr. Williams.

As Editor-in-Chief of Radioactive Liberty, I apologize to my readers for my failure to provide the other side of the story. I will continue to dig deep, and perhaps at some point will be able to provide an interview with one of the victims regarding his or her feelings on whether Tookie’s execution was just or unjust.